U.S. Forces, Coalition Battle to Retake Raqqa from ISIS

General James Mattis said that the goal of the campaign is to wipe out ISIS in the area. NBC 7's Bridget Naso has more. (Published Tuesday, June 6, 2017)

A young boy claiming to be the American son of a U.S. soldier loads an assault rifle and threatens the United States in an ISIS propaganda video released Tuesday, NBC News reported.

The boy, fluent in English and identified only as Yousef, age 10, appears to be reading from a script in parts of the slickly produced video. NBC News hasn't verified who or where he is, or where he's from, though he says he is in the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa.

It's the first time an American child has been featured in an ISIS propaganda video, according to an analyst at security firm Flashpoint. A U.S. counterterrorism official was aware of the footage, noting that ISIS often tries to distract from the fact that its territory is dwindling.

"My father's an American soldier who fought the mujahideen in Iraq," Yousef says. "I didn't know much about Islam except the name. When me and mom came to the Islamic State, we started learning the correct Islamic creed."

Iraqi Forces Push to Retake Last Bit of Mosul from ISIS

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi is greeted by cheering residents after arriving in Mosul, where Iraqi forces are fighting to retake the last bit of the battle-ruined city from ISIS fighters.